


The One With The Cat

by TheTiredOwl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23197309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTiredOwl/pseuds/TheTiredOwl
Summary: Alpine hates Bucky's boyfriend. That's it. That's the story.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Brock Rumlow
Comments: 5
Kudos: 41





	The One With The Cat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roe87](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roe87/gifts).



> This is for the amazing [roe87](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roe87/pseuds/roe87), who also beta'ed this fic.

Brock doesn’t know why that damn cat hates him so much. 

Living with Bucky isn’t hard, even if that kid leaves a mess behind everywhere he goes. Brock calls him affectionately his little  _ tornado _ . But this cat… Bucky loves this white, fluffy cat from hell that seems to hate Brock with a passion. 

The thing is Brock actually likes cats, and when Bucky came home one night holding this little, half-starved thing, he couldn’t send him away. There was, of course, a sob story behind that (he’d found the kitten on the road in the rain in a box, meowing tearfully among his dead siblings) and there was no way Brock could’ve called the shelter to give that poor little kitten away. But if he’d known then that this cat would hate him so much, he might’ve thought twice.

And now it’s too late. Bucky loves the cat as much as the cat hates Brock. What a wonderful life.

***

“And then that damn cat jumps from under the couch to bite me! The one time I was not wearing socks!” 

Brock has been complaining for ten minutes straight now and Jack has had it. There isn’t enough beer in this world to make this one better and Brock is now making teary eyes at him. He likes his friend but this goes too far.

“Did you try that trick with the catnip as I told you?” Jack asks, bored to tears and he already knows the answer.

“Yeah, he stole it and then scratched me,” Brock says. “Bucky laughed for nearly an hour.”

Jack sighs. He’d told Brock that this cat would be trouble but Brock hadn’t wanted to listen. Brock had told him it was just a poor little kitten, but Jack knew better. His ex-wife had had three of these beasts and every one of them had hated him. Jack had tried every trick in the book, but there aren’t many because everyone knows that cats are assholes. That Bucky loves that thing doesn’t surprise Jack in the least. Brock was kind of an asshole too, but he was still Jack’s friend. 

“Yeah well, what can I say? Learn to live with that beast or move out.”

“It’s my apartment!” Brock protests.

“No, it’s now the cat’s apartment. I’m sorry, but you lost it the minute your boy walked in with that cat.”

Brock groans, lights another cigarette and complains for a further ten minutes before finally…  _ finally  _ changing the subject to some SHIELD stuff they’re working on.

***

It’s dark inside as Brock quietly closes the door to his apartment. Bucky must be already asleep and a look at his watch tells him it’s two am. Brock sighs, still drunk and starts to tip-toe across the floor.

Then an abrupt, loud and haunting noise comes from the living room and Brock almost jumps out of his shoes. What the hell? The noise comes again, and Brock feels as if he’s in that stupid horror game Bucky plays on his PlayStation. 

“Bucky, what the fuck are you doing?” he hisses and turns on the lights.

But it’s not Bucky. It’s the damn cat, sitting on the piano, illuminated by the dim lights and he looks so smug, his eyes glowing in the light. Brock could kick this fluffy thing from hell right back there where it belongs. But then the door of the bedroom opens and Bucky is shuffling over to them.

“What’s going on?” he asks sleepily. “I heard something, did you leave the TV on?”

“No, it was just your cat. Scared the fuck outta me.” Brock’s heart is still thumping wildly in his chest. Sweat is cooling on his brow. Damn, he’s too old for this shit now. 

“Aww, Alpine. What are you doing?” Bucky croons, and the cat hops down from the piano with an almost happy tune playing on the keys. The cat has the nerve to purr and meow so sweetly that even Brock could fall for this act. “My sweet boy,” Bucky says, “scaring poor Brock? That was not very nice.” 

Jealous, Brock can only watch when Bucky lifts the cat and holds him in his arms like a baby. “You’ve come home early, Brock.” Bucky sighs happily, walking over and kissing him softly on his cheek.

“Yeah, yeah, couldn’t leave you all alone for so long, you know?” He doesn’t want to say that Rollins had eventually had enough of his complaints about the cat and that work doesn’t make a very good conversational topic for so long.

“You’re so sweet,” Bucky croons again like he was talking to the cat instead of Brock. He lets the cat go and he trots off to the couch, obviously ignoring the cat bed that Brock had bought. Before he can complain again, this time about cat hairs on the couch, Bucky slings his arms around Brock, kissing him deeply but then grimaces. “Ugh, you taste like cigarettes. You’ve been smoking again?”

Brock knows Bucky doesn’t like it and actually feels sorry. “I’m gonna brush my teeth and then go to bed, okay?”

“Mhm hmm.” Bucky nods, smiling happily and strolls back to the bedroom.

Tonight, Bucky makes it up to him with sweet kisses for that damn cat scaring the life out of him.

***

“ … and then the spider eats the moth, falls down the wall and the cat ate both of them. It was disgusting.” Brock is making faces again which makes Clint roar with laughter. It takes a full minute until he can calm down enough to wipe away the tears. 

“That sounds amazing, to be honest.” Clint snickers, with this glorious picture in his head of the funny cat and a disgusted Brock.

“Bucky said the same thing,” Brock mutters as Clint nods. Yeah, that sounds like Bucky. Clint had heard all the stories about little, fluffy Alpine already, but Brock’s are the best. Because the cat apparently hates him and that makes Clint think of the time when his own dog was pooping inside his shoes.

“Consider yourself lucky he didn’t leave his prey on your cushion.” Clint laughs again as Brock blanches but then Natasha tunes in through the Comms.

_ “Maybe you should concentrate more on the mission?” s _ he suggests and then there is some noise through the Comms as she demolishes some enemies in close range.  _ “Also, isn’t there Cesar Millan? Why don’t you call him for help? That would make for some great TV show, you and Bucky and Alpine…”  _

“Cesar Millan is for dogs and also he’s an asshole,” Clint protests but then throws Brock a long, close look. 

“What?”

“Oh, nothing,” Clint says and does as Natasha had instructed, concentrating on the mission.

***

At least the cat is clean and housebroken. If that beast were shitting in his boots then that would be the last straw, Brock thinks and throws his tac gear inside his locker at the SHIELD headquarters. 

Time for a beer and a smoke, he decides and then immediately discards the thought about a cigarette, hoping Bucky will kiss him later without any complaints about smooching a chimney. As he grabs his phone, there are five missed calls, all from Rogers. What does he want now? Brock groans and with the cold feeling of dread he taps on Rogers’ number.

“ _ Rumlow? Finally _ ,” he hears from Rogers, who actually sounds relieved. That’s a new one.

“What is it?” 

“ _ It’s Bucky. He’s been hurt. Rumlow? Rumlow! _ ” Rogers barks into the phone, but Brock has zoned out for a moment. His Bucky is hurt.

“How?” he asks. “What happened? Where is he?”

Rogers tells him and Brock rushes to the nearest hospital, where they’d brought his boy.

At the clinic, Brock realizes fast that Rogers had absolutely overreacted, and he’s relieved. A nurse leads him to the room where they put Bucky and as soon as he opens the door, he can hear the sounds of his handheld console, playing some horror game judging by the tunes coming out of that thing. Turns out, the kid had leapt from a bridge and broken his ankle, which meant it would heal in a matter of hours thanks to the serum in his blood. 

“Hey, Brock.” Bucky lets the console fall from his hands as he reaches out for Brock, who rushes into his arms. 

“Everything alright, love?” he asks, nuzzling Bucky’s cheek which makes his boy laugh.

“Of course. It’s just my ankle, but they want me to stay overnight.” Bucky sighs dramatically and snuggles up to Brock which indicates that he wants something. And here it comes. “Can you please feed Alpine? Also, we’re out of cat food and snacks for him.”

Of course. Brock squints his eyes, looking at the clock above the door. It’s late and most stores are closed except for the ones where the cat food is more expensive. He sighs and Bucky bats his eyelashes especially sweet at him. Can he really refuse him? This cat from hell can last for a night without food.

“Pleeease?” Bucky purrs, and Brock can’t stand this any longer. His resistance against Bucky’s pleas is nonexistent. 

“Of course, honey,” he surrenders and gets rewarded with a kiss.

***

Tired and grumpy, Brock unlocks the door and is greeted by a similar unhappy cat. Alpine meows so pitifully, Brock feels guilty for… for what exactly? Buying that spoiled cat all the things Bucky wants for him.

“Yeah, yeah, I miss him too,” Brock grumbles and puts down the bag with the expensive cat food and of course the snacks. “He’ll be home by tomorrow.”

For a short moment, the cat stops meowing and just looks at him with squinted eyes as if he was suspicious of something. Brock shrugs and turns to fill the cat’s bowl with the food and for the next three minutes, Alpine is busy chomping down the food.

Brock watches the cat with an accomplished feeling of doing at least something right for today but then he hears it. 

A noise interrupting the blissful quiet as the damn cat retches. All the food he had munched down lands in a sorry heap beside the bowl and the cat has the nerve to look at him with the smug expectation that the bowl is getting filled again. 

“Oh no, you’re not getting food again,” Brock tells him and rips off a piece of tissue to wipe away the mess Alpine has made. That darn cat! He needs that beer now more than ever. At least he has a cold one in the fridge just waiting for him. Today was a disaster. 

With the beer in one hand, Brock lets himself fall on the couch and closes his eyes. He misses Bucky terribly even if it’s only for a night. When he feels a lightweight beside him he opens his eyes and sees Alpine snuggling up to him on the couch. Huh, that’s a new one. The cat curls up, showing his fluffy belly and Brock smiles. That cat may be from hell but he’s really cute. Such a beautiful creature. 

Even if he knows it better, Brock can’t resist. It’s a fluffy tummy and Bucky is always allowed to stroke it. Maybe the time has come and he’s allowed too? His fingers reach out for that cute belly but just a few inches before he can touch it, Alpine hisses and swipes at him with sharp claws, leaving three scratches on his hand.

Brock curses, and the cat hops off the couch, looking miffed as if it were Brock’s fault for touching him. Brock certainly feels so. He sighs and goes to the bathroom to put some antiseptic solution on the scratches. As he comes out of the bathroom and walks by the bedroom, he can see the cat curled up on Bucky’s side of the bed, looking miserable. Yeah, me too, he thinks and goes back to the couch for his beer and some TV show he’s not interested in. After a few hours, he finally falls asleep.

***

The next day he sleeps in. There is some fluffy thing beside him which turns out to be a sleeping Alpine. He’s still on Bucky’s side of the bed but as Brock is slowly waking up, the cat also rises from his sleep. Brock fully expects him to just walk off or to hiss at him for whatever reason but the cat just yawns, walks a few steps and then lets himself slump down again, this time on Brock’s side, so near his face. He purrs and even if Brock is not trusting this peace, he lets the cat lie there and enjoys the few tickling cat hairs that are stroking his face with every breath Alpine takes. It’s a quiet moment and soon Brock is sinking into sleep again.

***

A few days later it is Bucky who comes home late after a mission. Brock hasn’t complained about Alpine since the day Bucky came home from the hospital which he takes as a good sign. Alpine still hisses at Brock and tries to scratch him sometimes but his love takes it without any grumbles. Maybe they’re starting to like each other? That would be a nice change.

But nothing prepares him for the sight that greets him in the bedroom as he quietly opens the door. There are his two loves snuggling against each other, Brock’s arm loosely draped alongside Alpine who purrs in his sleep. What a beautiful sight that warms Bucky’s heart and with a smile he sneaks into the bed, kissing first Alpine and then Brock on their foreheads.

“My two loves,” he whispers and swears there is a smile on both Brock’s and Alpine’s faces. With that, he cuddles up to both of them and just enjoys their warmth until he finally falls asleep.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :) Please consider leaving kudos and comments, I will love you for that <3
> 
> If you have suggestions or just want to talk to me, I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/gespensterkatze) :)


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